A convicted Delaware killer who waived his right to further appeals and sought to speed his execution has been put to death by lethal injection.
Shannon Johnson was executed early Friday, after a federal appeals court overturned a judge's decision halting the execution in response to a last-minute effort by federal public defenders to spare his life.
Johnson was convicted of shooting 25-year-old Cameron Hamlin in 2006 after Johnson found him sitting in a car with his ex-girlfriend.
After the state Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 2009, Johnson said he didn't want to pursue any further appeals.
But federal public defenders twice sought to intervene in the case without Johnson's consent. They argued he was mentally incompetent, but a state judge concluded he was not.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell released the following statement:
"The State of Delaware this morning carried out the sentence imposed for Shannon Johnson’s brutal murder of Cameron Hamelin. Mr. Johnson’s death sentence was recommended unanimously by a jury, imposed by a judge, and reviewed thoroughly on appeal. Mr. Johnson’s decision to forgo further challenges to his sentence was extensively reviewed by the Superior Court, and the Third Circuit agreed tonight that it had 'no reason to question the Delaware Superior Court’s conclusion' that Mr. Johnson voluntarily and competently made that decision. The Third Circuit’s decision put an end to further federal challenges to the sentence. Our thoughts tonight are with the Hamlin family, Lakeisha Truitt and her family, and all of those who have suffered from Mr. Johnson’s callous crimes.”
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